tion of the forms to which they objected. Nor can we greatly wonder, that, under such circumstances, the third and simplest course was adopted, that, namely, of imposing afresh on all, a liturgy, to which the great body of the people was ardently attached, and the disuse of which, in any particular parishes, (when the majority of congregations enjoyed it,) was likely to be attended with abundant discontent and inconvenience. These considerations are, indeed, no apology for the fresh aggressions of which the episcopalian party were guilty; for their unseasonable, though well intended alterations of the liturgy; and the hostile clauses inserted in their new act of uniformity. Far less can they extenuate the absurd wickedness of the persecution afterwards resorted to against those whom these measures had confirmed in their schism. But they may lead us to apprehend that, (though a very few concessions more would have kept such men as Baxter and Philip Henry in the Church,) there would have been very many whom no concession would have satisfied; and that the offence of schism was in a great degree inevitable, though a different course, on the side of the victorious party, might have rendered it of less wide diffusion, and of less deep and lasting malignancy.'

We may characterize this passage as liberal in the abstract, and prejudiced in the concrete. There is a great air of impartiality in thus holding the balance, and apparently condemning both sides; but it is little more than semblance. The weights and scales are adjusted by a party standard, and the whole transaction is conducted in the spirit of a partizan. In the first place, nothing can be more uncandid than to represent the ejectment of the Nonconformists of 1662, as a secession.' We are not disposed, on so flimsy a challenge as this, to go over beaten ground, for the purpose of proving, what ought, by this time, to be set down as among the axioms of historical statement, the knavish motives and tyrannical character of that every way indefensible procedure. The antagonist who can permit himself to speak of the previous expurgation of the church-a measure which, at present, we neither praise nor blame as a parallel case with the exclusion of its brightest ornaments on our English Saint Barthelemi, is not to be reasoned with. The observations which are connected with the very intelligible reference to the virtually violated pledge of Breda, are judicious enough. On one part of the paragraph, however, we must be allowed to express, briefly, but very decidedly, a difference of opinion. It has become exceedingly the fashion among the clergy of the Establishment, to take it for granted on very slender grounds, that the Liturgy is much in favour among Dissenters; and Mr. Heber, with more dexterity than ingenuousness, mixes up this assumption with the other ingredients of his reasoning. We have found, in fact,' he remarks, by experience, that the liturgy has, through its intrinsic

merits, obtained by degrees, no small degree of reverence even among those who, on either grounds, or on no grounds ⚫ at all, dissent from the Church of England as at present con⚫stituted.' What does Mr. Heber mean by the liturgy? If it is designed to convey the impression, that consistent Dissenters approve either of the use of formularies or of that particular mode of worship which is comprised in the Book of Common Prayer, the statement is, in fact,' untrue. Still less is he justified in his inference from the liberal language of his opponents, that the intrinsic merits' of his thaumaturgic liturgy have forced them to a reluctant reverence' for its paramount excellence. Their praise is strictly limited to its devotional parts; and even respecting these, we would suggest that it may have been too unqualified. If it be intended (as we cannot help suspecting has been frequently the case) to claim these concessions as applicable to the whole Book of Common Prayer, we have only to say, that our gainsayers must know, that they are availing themselves of an unauthorized extension of frank and unguarded language. They are fully apprized both of our disapprobation of formularies of devotion in general, and of our dislike to many of the expressions, doctrines, and enjoined ceremonies, contained in their manual; and it can answer no end but that of a temporary delusion, to magnify a partial admiration into a concession of principle.

But we must now quit Mr. Heber for Jeremy Taylor, and from the memoir, we can cite nothing more than the following letter, which exhibits Taylor's tenderness and piety in a very favourable light. In correspondence with his friend Evelyn, he had, under date of July 19, 1656, alluded, in very beautiful and touching language, to the recent loss of a son: Deare Sir, I ' am in some little disorder by reason of the death of a little child of mine, a boy that lately made us very glad: but now he rejoyces in his little orbe, while we thinke and sigh, and long to be as safe as he is.' In February of the following year, he had to mourn a further loss.

'Deare Sir,

I know you will either excuse or acquit, or at least pardon mee that I have so long seemingly neglected to make a returne to your so kind and friendly letter; when I shall tell you that I have passed through a great cloud which hath wetted me deeper than the skin. It hath pleased God to send the small poxe and fevers among my children; and I have since I received your last, buried two sweet, hopeful boyes; and have now but one sonne left, whom I intend, if it please God, to bring up to London before Easter, and then I hope to waite upon you, and by your sweet conversation and other divertisements, if not to alleviate my sorrow, yet, at least, to entertain

myself and keep me from too intense and actual thinking of my trouble. Deare Sir, will you doe so much for mee as to beg my pardon of Mr. Thurland, that I have yet made no returne to him for his so friendly letter and expressions. Sir, you see there is too much matter to make excuse; my sorrow will, at least, render me an object of every good man's pity and commiseration. But, for myself, I bless God, I have observed and felt so much mercy in this angry dispensation of God, that I am almost transported, I am sure highly pleased with thinking how infinitely sweet his mercies are when his judgments are so gracious. Sir, there are many particulars in your letter which I would faine have answered; but still my little sadnesses intervene, and will yet suffer me to write nothing else, but that I beg your prayers, and that you will still own me to be,

Deare and Honoured Sir,

Your very affectionate friend and hearty servant,

Jer. Taylor.'

In the following year, he was called upon to administer consolation to his friend Evelyn under a similar bereavement. The letter will be found in one of our former volumes.*

Of Jeremy Taylor as a writer-taking the estimate with reference to the great mass of his compositions-it is far more easy to speak in general terms, than it is to bring within reasonable limits a satisfactory induction from particulars. When we have described him as eloquent and imaginative, boundless in general knowledge, and, as a reasoner, though far from clear, yet powerful and comprehensive, we shall have done very little towards making out an intellectual resemblance of this illustrious man. The best way will probably be, availing ourselves to a certain extent of Mr. Heber's previous investigations, and adopting his plan, to take a rapid view of the leading works comprised in the volumes before us; though we shall so far yield to our old partialities as to make our references to the dingy folios, which we cannot yet persuade ourselves wholly to discard. The arrangement adopted by Mr. H. is not, indeed, free from objection; nor do the particulars uniformly and exclusively belong to their respective heads. For instance, the "Life of Christ" and the "Holy Living "and Dying" are placed among the Practical Works; whereas they contain much that is entirely and intentionally Devotional; while the "Divine Institution of the Office Ministerial," though ranged under the latter head, belongs, as far as we can judge, partly to the "Theological," and partly to the "Practical" department. We should, in fact, have been

* Vol. XIV. N.S. page 585.

inclined to simplify Mr. Heber's scheme, and, instead of the Practical and Devotional divisions, to have comprised them more generally under Theology and Casuistry, with a separate title for Pulpit exercises, which, as being of a mixed character, might well be taken as a distinct class. It is not, however, worth while to deviate, for our present purpose, from an arrangement, of which, whether accurate or otherwise, Mr. H. has made use in a very interesting way.

In the Practical division of Taylor's works, Mr. Heber places the "Life of Christ," the "Contemplations on the "State of Man," the " Holy Living and Dying," the "Ser"mons" and the posthumous treatise on "Christian Conso"lation." Of these, the second has been reviewed by us in an article already referred to, and the third is too popular to require from us any thing in the way of analysis or criticism. "The Great Exemplar, or Life of Christ," has been made the subject of one of those desperate falsehoods which popish writers seem to consider as eminently praiseworthy when employed to the advantage of their own Church. The Rev. Jno. Sergeant, a divine of whom we know nothing but the awkward circumstance before us, has affirmed, that this work is a mere translation of a similar book, compiled by Ludolphus of Saxony, a Carthusian monk. In nine cases out of ten, a bold assertion of this kind answers its purpose. Few of those to whom it is addressed, will have any inclination to examine into its accuracy, and still fewer would have the means of such examination. Happily, Mr. Heber belonged neither to the tribe of indolents nor to that of incapables; and he has ascertained the total dissimilarity of the works in question. In fact, the imputation was both absurd and malignant. The "Great Exemplar" bears throughout, the impress and coinage of its unquestionable Author: it has all the brilliancy of his imagination, and the redundant richness of his style; and no one of ability to discriminate could hesitate for a moment in ascribing it to its proper source. The first title of this volume is more indicative of its character than the second, since the "Life of Christ" is a mixed and popular narrative of the leading events and traditions connected with our Saviour's earthly course; while the considerations' and discourses' are designed to illustrate and enforce them as holding forth the great exemplar of sanctity and holy life.' Like all the productions of Taylor, its merits are of a very marked but mingled character. Its pages are crowded to satiety with sparkling thoughts and thick-coming fancies;' but its theology is generally superficial, and occasionally hazardous; and it is disfigured by that propensity to glittering phrase and forced conceit which

6

is almost as characteristic of its Author as are his brighter and unrivalled excellencies. He tells his readers of an itch, which must be scratched and satisfied.' In his description of the journey taken by the Virgin Mary, to visit her cousin Elizabeth,' he speculates as follows:

When the holy Virgin had begun her journey, she made hast over the mountains, that she might not onely satisfie the desires of her joy by a speedy gratulation, but lest she should be too long abroad under the dispersion and discomposing of her retirements: And therefore she hastens to an inclosure, to her Cousin's house, as knowing that all vertuous women, like Tortoises, carry their house on their heads, and their chappel in their heart, and their danger in their eye, and their souls in their hands, and God in all their actions. And indeed, her very little burden, whiche she bare, hindred her not but she might make hast enough; and as her spirit was full of cheerfulnesse and alacrity, so even her body was made aery and vegete: for there was no sin in her burden to fill it with naturall inconveniences; and there is this excellency in all spiritual things, that they do no disadvantage to our persons, nor retard our just temporall interests. And the religion by which we carry Christ within us, is neither so peevish, as to disturb our health; nor so sad, as to discompose our just and modest cheerfulnesse; nor so prodigall, as to force us to needs and ignoble trades; but recreates our body by the medecine of holy fastings and temperance; fills us full of serenities and complacencies by the sweetnesses of a holy conscience and joyes spirituall; promotes our temporall interests by the gains and increases of the rewards of charity, and by securing God's providence over us, while we are in the pursuit of the heavenly kingdome. And as in these dispositions she climbed the mountains with much facility, so there is nothing in our whole life, of difficulty so great but it may be managed by those assistances we receive from the holyest Jesus, when we carry him about us; as the valleys are exalted, so the mountains are made plain before us.'

He illustrates the universal peace which prevailed at the time of the Saviour's birth, by telling his readers, that the great body of the Roman empire had no limb out of joint, not so much as an aking tooth, or a rebelling humour in that huge collection of parts.' The following is a curious sample of the way in which he too frequently suffers his learning, his fancy, and his boundless command of language, to run riot together. After a string of whimsical comments on the name Jesus,-informing us that the Tetragrammaton is made fit for pronunciation, since the highest name of deity could not be pronounced truly till it came to be finished with a gutturall that made up the name given by the Angel to the holy childe,' and affirming that the Divine Being could not be received or ⚫ entertained by men, till he was made humane and sensible by